SouthField developers propose big changes

The developers of SouthField want the Legislature to rewrite the rules for the project to slash the power of the agency created to oversee the development, remake its board of directors and shift more control back to Weymouth, Abington and Rockland.

The developers of SouthField said they want the Legislature to rewrite the rules for the project to slash the power of the agency created to oversee the development, remake its board of directors and shift more control back to Weymouth, Abington and Rockland.

Starwood Capital Group, the company that bought master developer LNR in April, is proposing sweeping changes to the legislation that created South Shore Tri-Town Development Corp., saying that the current setup is unworkable and will grind the redevelopment of the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station to a halt. The former base includes land in Weymouth, Abington and Rockland.

“This proposed Tri-Town reform will create an atmosphere for investment,” said Robert Glantz, vice president of land at Starwood Land Ventures, a division of Starwood. “We need to be solution-based. The (current) plan doesn’t work.”

Tri-Town’s board of directors and the public were to get their first look at the proposal at a meeting this morning.

Glantz had said previously that Starwood would be looking for changes to the rules outlining the development, including changing a requirement that commercial development keep pace with construction of homes and apartments.

But the proposal goes much farther, including major changes to the Tri-Town’s authority and makeup.

Tri-Town has many of the same powers as a municipality, including to tax residents. It uses that revenue to fund its operations, including contracts with Weymouth to provide SouthField with police, fire and school services.

Under the proposal, each town would provide police and fire protection to its section of the former base and tax property owners there at the same rate as others in town, plus a small additional amount that would go to fund Tri-Town.

All children living on the former base would continue to attend Weymouth schools, but Abington and Rockland would have to pay the cost of educating kids living within their borders.

Each town would also get authority to approve zoning changes for parts of the former base that fall within its borders, instead of requiring sign-off from all three. The towns would also issue building permits and do inspections instead of Tri-Town.

Tri-Town’s board would also get a makeover, increasing from five to nine members. The existing five slots appointed by the three towns – two from Weymouth, two from Rockland and one from Abington – would remain, but two SouthField residents and two state appointees, including at least one with experience with large-scale developments, would be added. SouthField residents “are part of the plan and they should have a voice,” Glantz said.

Glantz said the developers aren’t looking to change the existing plan for about 2,800 homes and apartments and 2 million square feet of commercial space, or the multi-million dollar payments promised to the three towns to mitigate the impact of the development.

Page 2 of 2 - The base closed in 1997 and the three towns approved plans for housing and commercial space in 2005. But it remained largely dormant until a flurry of home building started in 2011. Commercial development and the jobs that were supposed to go along with it have yet to materialize. About 500 people live there now.

Tri-Town has come under fire after a scathing state audit faulted it for a lack of progress on the former base and questioning whether the board has the ability to get the job done. Board members have defended the agency, saying that problems raised in the audit have been fixed and that it was LNR’s job to find developers interested in building on the site.

Starwood would also take on the cost – estimated at about $40 million – of finding and setting up additional sources of water and sewer capacity that are vital to moving the project forward, Glantz said. That job is now up to Tri-Town.

Glantz said getting a change through the Legislature could be done by next year. Though it doesn’t technically require a sign-off from the three towns, the developers will likely have to get residents in all three to buy into the changes.